Whistles and Frostbite
by Ruingaraf
Summary: As the pair locked eyes on the train platform, he decided that he'd never seen an eight-year old with such silent bitterness in her eyes. A different take on the day Mustang and Hawkeye met. Mangaverse, spoilers regarding both characters' backstories.


"Annoyance"

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist/Hagane no Renkenjutsushi

Universe: Manga/Brotherhood

Rating: K+

Summary: As the pair locked eyes on the train platform, he decided that he'd never seen an eight-year old with such silent bitterness in her eyes. A different take on the day Mustang and Hawkeye met. Mangaverse, spoilers regarding both characters' backstories.

Notes: I've always seen these two to be about two and a half years apart. Here, Roy has had a birthday (it's winter, his birthday is in September) and Riza has not. She is bitter because her father is pretty much taking on a surrogate child so that he can pass on alchemy, and ignoring her in the process. I did this from Roy's POV because Riza would be so conflicted here. I tried to show that, but I think she just came out cold. As such, this may be subject to minor editing as I work out the finer points of young Riza's psyche.

* * *

_Whooot! Whoooooot!_

A train whistle jostled the young boy from his thoughts, making him jump slightly. Upon noticing that the woman in front of him had disembarked, he pulled his heavy trunk closer and dragged it onto the platform. With several loud bangs and some new scratches on the worn leather, the boy was able to move off to the side of the crowd, near a wall. Frowning, he looked down at the note he had been given, trying to shake the dull fear that he'd somehow ended up in the wrong place.

"Disembark at Finnglen station." he read aloud to himself. "There will be someone waiting for you. The house in which you will be staying..." he faded off and grumbled under his breath. "This isn't helpful at all." He stuffed the paper back in his pocket.

As soon as he'd looked up, he became acutely aware of someone watching him. Looking around for the source, he spied a girl, a few years younger than he and apparently, trying to bore a hole in his skull with keen eyes. He looked carefully back at her, momentarily confused. He was sure his obviously Xingese appearance stuck out in the crowd of blonds and brunettes, but that wasn't too much reason to stare. Well, at least he thought.

"Mister Mustang?" The staring blond girl called out to him cautiously, almost timidly. Her short hair was mostly covered by a wool cap, and the bottom of her face was obscured by a thick scarf. He shivered, realizing for the first time exactly how cold it was in this town. For once, he was happy that his overprotective foster mother had sent him armed with two thick coats.

When he failed to respond, she continued, looking a bit irritated. "You are Mister Mustang, right? The only one on the platform with hair and eyes the color of coal dust, and... my father's new apprentice." As she added the last part, the watchful eyes turned dark with a peculiar emotion that he couldn't catch. Silent resentment? Bitterness?

Finally seeming to gather himself, Roy nodded. "Yes. You're the person I'm to be looking for?" Somehow, he thought that his master would come to the platform himself, but he realized how silly that was. The master probably had much greater things to be doing than standing in the snow, waiting for a mere boy of eleven. Well, no matter. He tried to pull his trunk along closer to her, but it only made a pathetic squeak and refused to budge.

Just as he was about to kick the stupid thing, the girl bent down to grab a handle. She frowned reproachfully as he narrowly avoided a collision with her face. "Grab the other side. I'll help carry it."

Though he complied, Roy noted how odd it was that he was being told what to do by someone younger than himself. He was bossed around at home by his three foster sisters, but this was different. And on top of that, she seemed to already dislike him, despite the fact that they had only just met. Plus, her tawny eyes were beginning to unnerve him with their constant wordless observation.

As he resurfaced from his thoughts again, Roy realized that they were already out of the station and starting down a road. His escort seemed content not to talk, but he was far too curious to keep his mouth shut.

"So, what's your name?" he asked, trying to start any form of conversation.

"Riza. Riza Hawkeye." she responded, keeping her eyes on the road. The feeling of bitterness he'd gotten before was gone, but she still seemed to be giving him the cold shoulder. No pun intended, he thought to himself as a snowflake landed on his nose. Perhaps she was just shy. Still, that didn't explain her disdain for him.

"That means... you're my mentor's daughter?" he tried again, piecing together the little information he had. He realized that he must look like a prattling fool, but at least it had gotten her to talk to him.

"Yes. Father works with his alchemy all the time. I'm sure he's a very accomplished alchemist." The bitterness had returned, but this time with a melancholy note. That was odd, shouldn't she be proud of him? Several new questions began to swirl in the boy's mind, distracting him from his current task.

"Well, that-" Suddenly, the metal handle of the trunk slipped from Roy's sweaty grip, causing his end to fall straight down, onto his foot. He yelped in pain, biting back more pathetic whimpers. "...Ouch." he managed, finally.

Riza didn't seem to be pleased as she dropped her end and pried the trunk off his foot. "What all do you have in there, anyway? It's so heavy. What were you thinking, that it would just fly to the house all by itself?" The first time she'd really spoken to him, and it managed to both be spiteful and imply that he was a bumbling fool. Well, that probably didn't seem far from the truth to her, anyhow.

He suddenly felt the need to defend himself as he sat, rubbing his throbbing foot. "First of all, this is almost everything I own, I'm going to be living with you for at least a year. Secondly, it's filled with my alchemy books, which are all thick and heavy. Thirdly, no one told me that your house was going to be so far from the train station!" He glared at her and stood up, grabbing the handle to begin walking again.

"Oh." The girl looked down. She didn't seem to want to apologize, but had at least realized that she was wrong in her outburst. There was a long pause. Then she spoke up again, with an almost kind tone.

"Your shoes are the wrong type for this snow, and your feet are soaked. We'd better get back soon, or you'll get frostbite. I'll start a bath and some tea for you when we get there." It wasn't sweet or caring, but rather mater-of-fact and reminiscent of how one would treat a disliked in-law. Still, it was a start.

Roy smiled slightly. "That sounds nice."

Neither of the children had any idea that over the course of twenty years, they would be side by side as they attended a funeral, uncovered her father's secrets, joined the military, fought in a genocide, worked in an office, lost a best friend, discovered corruption, fought sin itself, nearly died a dozen times over, and finally, were wed.


End file.
